You know you need more content to keep your customers engaged. But that doesn’t mean you need to be writing more. Here are 29 ways to repurpose content so you can keep more money in your marketing purse.
If you have subject matter experts within your organisation, you’ve probably realised by now that creating content around their expertise is a gold mine in terms of content marketing. If you haven’t, check out this guide to tapping into your experts’ ideas for content marketing.
Writing a piece of thought leadership like this is not easy though.
It takes time, research, and multiple rounds of back and forth. Once it’s finally signed off most of us are so exhausted (and have read it till we’re cross-eyed) that we can barely cobble together an EDM or think up a few semi-insightful social posts.
But don’t stop there.
Finding ways to repurpose content is a smart move.
Both for your content creation efforts and your marketing budget.
The thing is, you’ve already done all the hard work. Once you have an original, insightful article, you can repurpose your content in many ways:
- Edit it to create different types of content
- Reuse it as is
- Promote it
A good piece of content is an investment. Not only for your brand reputation to build authority, likeability and trust. But also as a strategic move to create multiple content assets off the back of it. This means less work for you in the long run and more content for your brand and employees to share.
Like that homebrew kit you got from Uncle Mark last Christmas, your piece of content will be a gift that keeps on giving.
Here are 29 ways to repurpose content to make it live longer.
Websites
1. Publish it on your blog
Your blog is your article’s home base. This is where all the content you create off the back of this should point to. You want to direct people to your website so they can check out your brand and services.
2. Feature it on your homepage
If you have a slider on your website’s homepage, create a graphic and add it as a featured piece of content.
3. Use part of it for a guest blog post
Guest posting is a resourceful way to get your brand out there and build your credibility outside your existing email list or social network.
Most sites with a decent domain authority will want original content, so you can’t reuse the whole thing. But if you have written a long-form piece of content, you can break part of it out and include it in your guest post, with a link back to the original piece on your blog. Backlinks are majorly important to SEO so this strategy has a double benefit.
Just make sure it is significantly different to the original, otherwise you might have a problem with plagiarism checkers that a lot of sites run your content through.
4. Use it on your product or services pages
Say your article is about employee engagement trends, include a link to it in the copy of your product page for your new employee engagement tool. This kind of content builds your authority and trust which are crucial to getting people over the line to purchase.
5. Syndicate your article
This is when you literally take an article from your website and publish it in full somewhere else. It can be an effective way to increase your exposure. Quora, Medium, Slideshare and Reddit are all free, while paid platforms like Outbrain and Taboola may appeal to those with budget to spare.
Social Media
6. Share a link on your social channels
Your company LinkedIn page is the obvious starting point, but don’t forget your people. The stats show that content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. Get your salespeople, your leaders and of course the subject matter experts you interviewed to share it as well. And make sure you @tag relevant people or sales prospects who might benefit from the info you’re sharing.
7. Re-post the whole article on LinkedIn
If you’ve written your article with your subject matter expert as the author, get them to publish it as an article on their LinkedIn. You’ll need to tweak it slightly – make sure to link back to your original article, have links to your products or services throughout and have a clear call to action so your readers know what you can do for them.
If you’re worried about giving LinkedIn your traffic (and that they will outrank you for the keyword you’re trying to rank for), there are two tactics you can try. 1: publish the first few paragraphs and link to the full article on your site. Or 2: Change the title and the intro so it doesn’t include your keywords. You can keep the majority of it the same but it won’t have as much SEO power as your original article.
8. Pull out quotes
Since this piece contains original thoughts from your subject matter expert, you’ll probably have some interesting insights you can pull out. Choose three or four and create cards in Canva.
9. Create charts using statistics
We all love a good statistic. They’re easy to digest and serve as a powerful way to back up the message you’re trying to convey. Again, Canva is a great tool for creating these.
10. Upload a PDF to LinkedIn
You may have seen the series of images that you can flick through (see an example below of a slider I created for this article). Some say these are the new infographic and they are a great way to break down complex information or steps from your article. They are pretty simple to do, all you need is a PDF which you upload as a file. Note that this only works in the desktop version of LinkedIn. Here are some simple instructions on how to upload a PDF to a LinkedIn post.
11. Use subheadings for topics for social posts
Part of any great article is subheadings. They’re essential in today’s world of skimmers and scanners so I hope you’ve included some in your article. If you have, take each subheading and turn them into a social update – giving a bit of info about that particular part of your article, and then linking to the original article on your blog. This works especially well for tips and tricks or step-by-step articles.
12. Create a paid social campaign
If you have a little bit of marketing budget to spare, investing in a paid social campaign is a smart idea. Facebook ads and LinkedIn sponsored content are a clever way to broaden your reach outside your brand or employee’s networks.
13. Send to your subscribers in an EDM
Write a short intro (around 100 words) and then link to the full article. Or include it in your newsletter with other content and company news.
14. Create a drip feed campaign
Break up your article into a series of emails that you drip feed over a few days or weeks. In your last email, make sure you link to the full article if people missed any of the previous emails.
15. Turn it into an e-course
This works well if your article is an in-depth, step-by-step guide or highly instructional. Even better if it has a tangible end result, e.g. “Learn how to map out your next year of content in 5 days”. This is a great lead generation opportunity too if you’re looking to build your subscriber base.
16. Re-engage cold leads
Get your sales team to send a link to relevant leads that have gone cold to re-engage them by giving them something valuable. Something along the lines of “Hey, thought this might be useful to address some of the challenges we spoke about last month.”
17. Include a link to your article in your email signature
Get your salespeople to include a link in their email signatures. “Read our latest thought leadership: The future of automation in the Legal industry”.
18. Combine it with a product announcement
If your content aligns with a new product or service you want to announce, link the two together in one EDM. For example, if your article is about how to increase productivity by collaborating and you are launching a new tool that enables better collaboration, this would be a natural fit.
Video
19. Turn the whole article into a video
If the subject matter expert you used for this article is not camera shy, get them to read it to camera. You could also summarise it like they’ve done here.
20. Turn into a series of short videos
Take each subheading and make them individual videos. Ideally you’d get the subject matter expert who had these ideas to be on the video, but if they’re reluctant to be on camera, someone else on your team could do it.
21. Create an explainer video
There are lots of video editing platforms out there, but if you’re more of a words person like me (I have exactly zero design skills and always seem to muck up any video templates I use) don’t worry. There are lots of easy-to-use free platforms like Bitable, Promo and Lumen5 you can use. They don’t have a lot of wiggle room for creativity (e.g. Bitable has a limited text count of 180 characters which is tricky) but it has enough templates for you to find what you need on zero budget.
Presentations
22. Use it to plan a presentation or webinar
If your SME has an opportunity to present their ideas in an external presentation, webinar or informal meetup, this article can form outline for their presentation. Since they’ve already had time to articulate their thoughts, planning a presentation should be much quicker.
23. Use it post-presentation or webinar
Once the presentation or webinar is over, send attendees (or no-shows) a link to your article which summarises what they heard.
24. Upload to Slideshare
Upload your slides to Slideshare once the presentation or webinar is done for further reach.
Lead Magnets
25. Use it as a kicking off point for an eBook
Use your article as one of the chapters for your next eBook. Couple it with some other related blog posts to fill it out.
26. Co-Create an eBook with another company
Use your article as your “pitch” for creating a co-branded eBook with an affiliate brand. It’s a good way to show your brand and internal experts know what they’re talking about and can come through with the goods. You can then use the article as one of the chapters.
Podcasts
27. Use the article to pitch your SMEs to be a guest on a podcast
Podcasts are hot right now and hosts are always on the look out for interesting, insightful guests to feature. Find a podcast that aligns with your industry or target audience and send them your article as proof your experts know what they’re talking about and can articulate their thoughts.
28. Read the article aloud as a podcast
If you have your own podcast, get your subject matter expert or podcast host to read your content aloud.
Other content
29. Include quotes in a press release
This is going old school, but press releases are still very useful in certain industries. Since your article contains original content from your leaders or SMEs, you can pull out quotes from it to use in press releases.
Invest in your next article
A good piece of content is an investment. Not only for your brand reputation to build authority, likeability and trust. But also as a strategic move to repurpose your article and create multiple content assets off the back of it. This means less work for you in the long run, more content for your brand and employees to share, and more money left in your marketing budget.
If you need help tapping into your experts’ insights to create content, I can help. I write articles and thought leadership pieces, as well as long-form content like eBooks, guides and whitepapers. All designed to position your brand as a trusted authority. Get in touch to book a free 15 minute discovery call.
